"Moses"

When Dr. Van Christou, a member of the University of Lethbridge’s board, visited Expo 67 in Montreal, seeking a bold artistic statement to complement the audacious architectural vision of Arthur Erickson, one sculpture commanded his attention – Sorel Etrog’s Moses.

Located near the American pavilion, Moses stood some 17 feet tall and weighed almost two tons. Cast in bronze, its mass and strength immediately impressed Christou. With thoughts of Erickson’s iconic design for University Hall on the fledgling campus, hefelt he had a fit. “People used to gather around it when it was out in the open, it has that kind of presence,” says Christou. “It is a very powerful piece. If you walk around it, it really does something to you, it’s very strong.”

Etrog, who died this year at 80, was a giant of Canadian modernism. A Romanian Jew, he survived the Second World War and immigrated with his family to Israel in 1954. He studied art and held his first show in Tel Aviv in 1958, which led to a scholarship at the Brooklyn Museum. After a short stay in New York, he visited Toronto at the behest of Samuel Zacks, a Toronto collector and patron.

Etrog spent the rest of his life in Toronto, where his public sculptures dot the streets. In 1968, he designed the Etrog, later renamed the Genie, to honour Canadian film excellence.

Moses remains a fine example of Etrog’s work and the university’s art collection now numbers more than 13,000 pieces. “Getting Moses allowed me to talk the other members of the board into spending money to start the art collection,” says Christou. “It was a tough time and money was scarce, but that’s where it all started.”